This year New Zealand will mark 250 years since the first meetings between Māori and Europeans during James Cook and the Endeavour's 1769 voyage to Aotearoa New Zealand.

The 250th anniversary is a time to learn about and reflect on the first onshore encounters between Māori and non-Māori, and the feats of Polynesian navigators and explorers who reached and settled in Aotearoa New Zealand many years earlier. Tuia – Encounters 250 is a national commemoration of the multiple histories that formed our nation and an opportunity for us all as New Zealanders to talk about our rich histories and our national identity.

This field trip, based in Te Tai Tokerau Northland will take you back in time to the arrival of Polynesians in Ipipiri/Bay of Islands, investigating their archaeological remains and exploring the way of life of our earliest explorers; then the arrival of Europeans and an exploration of the world we live in now and our future.